Marzban Shroff, the author of story-collection ‘Breathless In Bombay", is facing a criminal case for using the word ‘Ghati’ in one of the stories in the book. The word is used in Mumbai for referring to Maharashtrians, in a slightly derogatory sense.

However, Shroff, who is seeking quashing of the criminal complaint, maintains that he never meant to insult any community, and the word has been used in the fictional dialogue.

Justice V M Kanade, himself a Maharashtrian, seemed to agree with the author. "Ghati is common slang word. For every community there are such words," the judge observed.